Injury Services (tinyurl.com/okzwqoz), reveals that in the past two years 48 per cent of people in the UK receiving rehabilitation and support to regain their independence have lost access to vital services as a result of cuts to local authority or NHS funding. People who desperately need help to cope with life after brain injury, or rehabilitation services to regain lost skills, are increasingly being abandoned. Unless access to post-acute, community-based rehabilitation and support for people affected by brain injury improves, more and more people will be cut out of society. Luke Griggs, communications manager, Headway – the brain injury association
WEARING AN ENGAGEMENT RING COMPROMISES HAND HYGIENE It was unfortunate that your front cover photograph alongside the headline, Record keeping – How to maintain high standards (May 7), pictured a nurse in uniform holding a tablet device and wearing an engagement ring and wedding band. This is not recommended from an infection control perspective. The wearing of rings is associated with higher numbers of bacteria on the hands and can affect the effectiveness of hand-hygiene techniques. This is more pronounced if rings with stones or multiple rings are worn. Sandra Hider, by email
FIRST AID SHOULD BE PART OF MANDATORY NURSE TRAINING During my teens, I saw a man collapse at a community bonfire. Lots of people tried to help, but no one knew what to do. He died at the scene. I was devastated by the experience and decided to learn first aid so that I would know what to do and perhaps make a difference should something similar happen again. I joined the local St John Ambulance as cadet in 1987 and have been a member ever since. After 26 years, it was a lovely surprise recently to
NURSING STANDARD
receive an invitation to be invested as an officer of the Order of St John at the Priory Church of St John in London. As a district nurse, I am more convinced than ever that first aid should be part of mandatory training. It is an important skill that complements the rest of our nurse clinical training. Most nurses have no experience of first aid or first aid training, and would not know what to do when faced with a situation outside their normal work routine. Many nurses would not know what to do at the scene of an accident, for example, where first aid is needed. For information on first aid training, volunteering and first aid advice, contact St John Ambulance at www.sja.org.uk. First aid can be the difference between life and death. Mike Jackson, by email
TENTH ANNIVERSARY REUNION FOR HERTFORDSHIRE DipHE 2005 COHORT We are looking to organise a 10th anniversary lunchtime reunion for the University of Hertfordshire DipHE in nursing January 2005 cohort. This will be on January 31 next year – at a venue to be decided when we get a better idea of numbers. Please contact me at sandy_lynne_ [email protected] for information. Sandra Adams, by email
TWEETS OF THE WEEK Anyone else think it strange to be offering HIV testing at a Tesco Express? @OCCObaby
#NScomment I think this is a positive idea; confidentiality wouldn’t be a problem. It’s not as if the test would be carried out in an aisle @charlah2588
I don’t mind as long as the environment and staff training are good. Easier access for public, maybe open longer @rednat76
I think it’s a brilliant idea. The more places the test is easily available, the more likely that people will take it @Mazmatazz
100% disagree and think testing for HIV should be exclusively carried out in a healthcare setting @ThomasDavid_B
But taking services into the community makes them more accessible @AndrewCatherall
REUNIONS Are you planning a reunion or trying to trace former colleagues? Email [email protected] with the details and we will post them at www.nursing-standard.co.uk CORRECTION Anne Marie Rafferty, co-author with Linda Aiken and Walter Sermeus of the feature article Caring nurses hit by a quality storm (April 30) is professor of nursing policy and director of academic outreach at the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, King’s College London. She is not the school’s director. We apologise for the error.
Could the supermarket pharmacy offer a phlebotomy service, too? It would take the pressure off hospital and GP services @mariaobrien112
This is a welcome initiative, especially now that HIV/AIDS is a chronic condition, not a death sentence tinyurl.com/lu2q5lp @RogerEvansE1
Follow Nursing Standard @NScomment and join the #NScomment chat on Thursdays at 12.30pm may 21 :: vol 28 no 38 :: 2014 33
WEARING AN ENGAGEMENT RING COMPROMISES HAND HYGIENE It was unfortunate that your front cover photograph alongside the headline, Record keeping – How to maintain high standards (May 7), pictured a nurse in uniform holding a tablet device and wearing an engagement ring and wedding band. This is not recommended from an infection control perspective. The wearing of rings is associated with higher numbers of bacteria on the hands and can affect the effectiveness of hand-hygiene techniques. This is more pronounced if rings with stones or multiple rings are worn. Sandra Hider, by email
FIRST AID SHOULD BE PART OF MANDATORY NURSE TRAINING During my teens, I saw a man collapse at a community bonfire. Lots of people tried to help, but no one knew what to do. He died at the scene. I was devastated by the experience and decided to learn first aid so that I would know what to do and perhaps make a difference should something similar happen again. I joined the local St John Ambulance as cadet in 1987 and have been a member ever since. After 26 years, it was a lovely surprise recently to
NURSING STANDARD
receive an invitation to be invested as an officer of the Order of St John at the Priory Church of St John in London. As a district nurse, I am more convinced than ever that first aid should be part of mandatory training. It is an important skill that complements the rest of our nurse clinical training. Most nurses have no experience of first aid or first aid training, and would not know what to do when faced with a situation outside their normal work routine. Many nurses would not know what to do at the scene of an accident, for example, where first aid is needed. For information on first aid training, volunteering and first aid advice, contact St John Ambulance at www.sja.org.uk. First aid can be the difference between life and death. Mike Jackson, by email
TENTH ANNIVERSARY REUNION FOR HERTFORDSHIRE DipHE 2005 COHORT We are looking to organise a 10th anniversary lunchtime reunion for the University of Hertfordshire DipHE in nursing January 2005 cohort. This will be on January 31 next year – at a venue to be decided when we get a better idea of numbers. Please contact me at sandy_lynne_ [email protected] for information. Sandra Adams, by email
TWEETS OF THE WEEK Anyone else think it strange to be offering HIV testing at a Tesco Express? @OCCObaby
#NScomment I think this is a positive idea; confidentiality wouldn’t be a problem. It’s not as if the test would be carried out in an aisle @charlah2588
I don’t mind as long as the environment and staff training are good. Easier access for public, maybe open longer @rednat76
I think it’s a brilliant idea. The more places the test is easily available, the more likely that people will take it @Mazmatazz
100% disagree and think testing for HIV should be exclusively carried out in a healthcare setting @ThomasDavid_B
But taking services into the community makes them more accessible @AndrewCatherall
REUNIONS Are you planning a reunion or trying to trace former colleagues? Email [email protected] with the details and we will post them at www.nursing-standard.co.uk CORRECTION Anne Marie Rafferty, co-author with Linda Aiken and Walter Sermeus of the feature article Caring nurses hit by a quality storm (April 30) is professor of nursing policy and director of academic outreach at the Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery, King’s College London. She is not the school’s director. We apologise for the error.
Could the supermarket pharmacy offer a phlebotomy service, too? It would take the pressure off hospital and GP services @mariaobrien112
This is a welcome initiative, especially now that HIV/AIDS is a chronic condition, not a death sentence tinyurl.com/lu2q5lp @RogerEvansE1
Follow Nursing Standard @NScomment and join the #NScomment chat on Thursdays at 12.30pm may 21 :: vol 28 no 38 :: 2014 33
